The subject matter disclosed herein relates to terrain adaptive flight control and, more particularly, to terrain adaptive flight control where a type of control mode is changed based on proximity to terrain or obstacles.
In aircraft flight control systems, controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) occurs when an aircraft, such as a helicopter, impacts terrain or an obstacle in its flight path even though the aircraft is operating normally. This type of incident is common and, in fact, CFIT is a leading cause in helicopter crashes. Occurrence of CFIT is especially a problem when flying in instrument flight rules (IFR) conditions or at night where the pilot wears night vision goggles. Currently, terrain avoidance systems only cue the pilot as to ground proximity.